Jungle Brown

Every Monday we will be bringing you an unsigned singer or band as part of our Independent Music Monday feature. This week, we caught up with Ric and Maear from Jungle Brown find out more about them…

Ric

Who is in the band, how did you meet, where are you from and how did you come up with the band name?We met in back in the days, myspace days in Bournemouth. Hip-hop music was the mutual connection. We supported the likes of Jehst, Klashnekoff and Lowkey in the south-coast. Later down the line, we came to London for bigger dreams and connected again via our passion for music. Shared a studio together and the rest is Take 1, Flight 314 to Full Circle.

Who were your musical influences when you were growing up and who are your influences now?I was a sponge to whatever radio or 'Now That's What I Call Music!' tapes were feeding me! Everything in rhymes form. Staying up til 3am on a Sunday nights, recording BBC Radio 1 Dream Team sessions with guest like Pay As You Go, More Fire Crew, Genius Crew was a massive moment.

A shift later, Dizzee Rascal first album was epic.Rinsed Jay-Z Reasonable Doubt album.Loved the imagination of Nas and Jehst.Soul of Tupac and Lauryn Hill.

Uni times - K-OS and Kanye West.

As of late Soulection's wave of Artist, Anderson .Paak and Travis Scott sound.

How would you describe your sound?An organic fusion of past, present and future sounds.

What is your latest single called and what was the influence behind it?Time Ticks gives a nod to our hip-hop roots, shows our value in live instruments and reminds people to keep striving regardless of the day to day politics.

What’s your local music scene like?We in London right, so it's always something going on! Personally I’m loving the rise of the independent creatives, independent creatives supporting other independent creatives. And Spoken word/HipHop nights like SoundMinds.

What do you have planned for the next 12 months? Any albums or festivals?Touring Full Circle! Solo music from the whole collective. Lovebox announced and a few we can’t announced just yet...

Any funny stories surrounding your live performances?Not yet… although we got some unreleased documentary footage from Boomtown which would be funny to tell but its unreleased for a reason...

What is the one thing that you want readers to know about your band?Full Circle is one of best U.K Rap albums in this decade.

Maear

Who is in the band, how did you meet, where are you from and how did you come up with the band name?We have made music together for years before we formed the group. We were all in Bournemouth before moving to London, and that's how we met. When we were in London we got a studio together, we were all just solo artist at the time and someone just suggested we create a group and had the name jungle brown in mind. We thought why not and literally just started making music and putting it out on the internet and everything grew from there.

Who were your musical influences when you were growing up and who are your influences now?For myself MAEAR, my first memories of music was listening to high life music that my parent would play, which is Ghanian, I'm Ghanian, and then I remember my brothers being really into hip hop and and that's when I really became obsessed in wanting to be part of the music world. I listened to people like Jay-Z, Tupac, Biggie, Warren G, Foxy Brown, Nas, Will Smith, Mark Morrison, all those those people and beyond, then I just followed it throughout the years, 50 Cent, So Solid, Dizzee, Wiley, Kanye, Lauryn Hill, Alicia Keys, Teedra Moses, Lupe, Drake, Kendrick and Cole and so on. I had a period around 05/06 where I went back again into the 90's and got into Wu-Tang, Jeru, MF Doom etc... But I just love the whole game, I find inspiration and influence from all of it. I love the UK a lot right now, Skepta is king, some of the up and coming people, like Nadia Rose, Octavian... Honestly I could be here for days.

How would you describe your sound?Don't have one, we just vibe to whatever sounds good. IMO!

What is your latest single called and what was the influence behind it?Time Ticks, it's quite an introspective track but with a global hook... It's about the day to day grind and hustle and bustle of life that people find themselves in, it's an acknowledgement of that internal pain a lot of people have right now, but with a reminder that you're still important, that you can still get to where you wanna go... A reminder that you're still shining.

What’s your local music scene like?London is Poppin at all times, one of the best city's on the planet to make any dream come true... It's active... Not been back to Bournemouth like that in a while, so not sure what it's saying, but I hear there's some stuff going on...

What do you have planned for the next 12 months? Any albums or festivals?So yeah we just released our album Full Circle, which has had sick reception, now we just lining up the rest of the summer for shows and singles, we doing Lovebox and shows here there and everywhere, we got other shows and festivals we are waiting to confirm.

Is there anyone you’d love to collaborate with?Knucks, Shakka, IAMDDB, Sampha, Nadia Rose, Skepta, loads of people, but that's a few that quickly come to mind.

What is the one thing that you want readers to know about your band?It's more than music, cliché as it may sound it's the truth... There is some new things that need implementing... Many people that need to be empowered... Paradigm shifts... That's what we're here for!